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Of those, more than 66,000 were repeat abortions, compared with 54,603 a decade earlier. The figures also disclose a sharp rise in the number of pregnancies aborted because of disability, with a 17 per cent rise in such cases in a year, to 2,308 last year.

Abortion agencies said the rise might reflect advances in foetal screening detecting abnormalities sooner. However, pro-life campaigners said they were "deeply concerned" by the trend.

The statistics show that the number of abortions among teenagers fell sharply, with 12,783 among those under 18, compared with 14,599 the previous year.

However, the number among women in their 40s rose to a record 8,426 cases last year – up 20 per cent in a decade.

While the number of single women having abortions rose slightly since 2002, the figures show a tripling in the number among women with partners.

More than 86,000 women with a partner had abortions last year – almost half the total number of terminations.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said the figures on women with repeat abortions could be misleading.

Often they were responding to different circumstances from an unwanted pregnancy as a teenager to an unexpected pregnancy in their 40s. She said many agencies treated women from eastern Europe, "where abortion is seen a method of birth control".